Rotary engine.



No. 638,9I0. Patented Dec. I2, |899. E. P. COUTURE.

RoTARY ENGINE.

(Application filed Aug. 11, 1899.)

Patented Dec. l2, |899.

2 Sheets-Sheet E. P. COUTURE.

RUTARY ENGINE.`

(Applicatiun filed Aug. 11, ..1809.)

No. 633,9l0.

(No Model.)

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EUSEBE P. COUTURE, OF GUALALA, CALIFORNIA, ASSIGNOR OF TWO-TIIIRDS TOGEORGE RAY, OF SAME PLACE.

ROTARY ENGINE.

SPECIFICA'ION forming part of Letters Patent No. 638,910, dated December12, 1899. Application filed August l1, 1899. Serial No. 726,938. (Nomodel.)

To all whom t may concern.:

Be it known that I, EUsnBE PIERRE CoU TUBE, a citizen of the UnitedStates, residing at Gualala, in the county of Mendocino and State ofCalifornia, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in RotaryEngines, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in rotary engines, the object of myinvention being to provide an engine of this character which shall besimple in construction, economical in the application of steam, capableof attaining a high speed of rotation, and which shall comprise meansfor preventing wasteful escape of the live steam.

My invention therefore resides in the novel construction, combination,and arrangement of parts for the above ends hereinafter fully specified,and particularlypointed out in the 2o claims.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure lis a vertical longitudinal sectionof one of the` cylinders of the engine. Fig. 2 is a transverse section.Figs. 3, 4, and 5 are detail views of packing. Fig. 6 is a horizontalsection on the line a a of Fig. 2. Fig. 7 is a similarl section on theline h l?. Fig. Sis a partial vertical transverse section showing thevalve in a changed position, showing also in dotted lines thedrivingshoulders of the other cylinders of the engine. Fig. 9 is a topplan view, on a reduced scale, of the engine complete for reversing.Fig. 10 is a longitudinal section through a steam connection. Fig. 11 isa perspective view of a valve.` Fig. 12 is a partial section similar toFig. 8, but with the valve in a changed position; and Fig. 13 is avertical longitudinal section of the engine complete for reversing.

Upon a suitable base is supported the stationary annular casing 2,U-shaped in crosssection, and in said casing rotates the wheel 3,mounted on the shaft 4. Upon a portion of the circumference of saidwheel is formed a shoulder 5, having a gradual front incline 6 and asharp rear incline 7. Said shoulder moves between the opposing walls 8of the chamber 9, formed by said casing and wheel, and in its movementsaid shoulder in each revolution of the wheel 3 raises an L-shaped valve10, the vertical member 11 of which slides vertically in recesses l2,formed in the walls 8 of the chamber 9, and the upper part of saidmember 11 slides in a valve-casing 13, erected upon said cylindricalcasing 2. Said valve is raised by the engagement of the shoulder withthe horizontal member of said valve, and when said shoulder has passedsaid valve the valve is positively forced down by the pressure of steamupon the horizontal face of the valve, the edge of said valve slidingupon the rear inclined face of the shoulder. The steam enters thechamber 9 by' the steam-port 14 and exerts pressure between the verticalwall 11 of the valve and the rear face 7 of the shoulder 5, forcing saidshoulder onward and causing the wheel 3 to rotate, the steam escapingthrough the exhaust-lport 15 when the shoulder 5 passes said port.

. In order to resist the lateral pressure of the steam upon the walls ofthe chamber 9, the

Wheel 3 is provided with flanges 16, Which eX- tend outward and parallelwith and outside the walls 8 of the chamber 9, and between said Wallsand flanges 16 are provided packings 17. The sides of the shoulder 5,nearits surface, are recessed, as shown at 18, and in said recesses aresecured spring-plates 19, having their edges 20 bent outward and bearingagainst the walls S of the chamber 9. The top of the shoulder 5 issimilarly recessed and has a similar spring-plate 2l. It Will be seenthat by this construction the pressure of the steam behind saidspring-plates 19 and 21 tends to press their edges against the Walls andtop 0f the chamber 9 and to render the same steam-tight, and as theengine is intended to reverse the edges 23 of the recesses 12 of thewalls of the chamber 9 are rounded, so that when so reversing the edgesof said plates will not catch against ,the edges of said recesses.

The steam does not exhaust through the exhaust-pipe 15 directlyinto theatmosphere, but into a second cylinder 27, constructed in its mainfeatures like the first, and in which revolves a wheel on the same shaft4. In this second cylinder, however, the exhaust-port 28 is arranged inadvance of the inlet-port 29 into said cylinder, said port 29 leadingfrom the exhaust 15 by a conduit 30. The valve 31is between said ports29 2S, and the incline ICO 7 on said second wheel is located as regardsthe common shaft 4E a sufcient distance in advance of the incline 7 onthe first wheel that if any steam escapes direct from the inlet-port 14:to the lexhaust-port 15 when the incline 7 is between said ports saidsteam will then propel the incline 7 of the second wheel, which will nothave passed its exhaust-port.

When a reversible engine is desired, I provide two of .the above doublecylinders on the same shaft, one pair working in one direction and theother pair in the opposite direction, and when it is desired to reversesteam is cut off from one pair and is admitted to the other pair. To cutoff steam, there is provided a lever 40, which operates a dog 41,

'sliding through an aperture 42 on the rear wall of the valve-casing,the end of said dog engaging the rear face of the valve 10. When saiddog is pushed in by means of the lever 40, then when said valve has beenraised to its highest point by the shoulder 7 in its revolution the dog4l will engage a notch 43 in the rear face of the valve 10 and hold itup, closing the steam-port la. The engineer will then shift a similarlever in the other pair of cylinders, which will permit the valve 10therein to fall under pressure of the steam, and the shaft will begin torotate in the opposite direction.

In case the shaft should stop in such a position that the valve 10closes the port 14E the following construction which I have providedwill enable the engine to be started. A pipe leads from the mainsteam-pipe to the conduit 30, and in said conduit, behind said pipe 50,is a valve 51, comprising iiaps opening only in the direction leadingfrom the rst cylinder to the second. Thus if the engine should stop withthe steam-port 14E closed by the valve 10 the engineer will turn a cock53 in said pipe 50 and let steam into the second cylinder, and the valve51 will automatically close and prevent movement of steam into the firstcylinder. The second cylinder will then be the driving-cylinder untilthe engine is start-ed, when the engineer will close the cock 53.

I claiml. In a rotary engine, the combination of an annular casing awheel revolving in said casing and having annular Iianges extendingoutward beyond the inner edge of said casing and outside of said casing,packing between the outer surface of the sides of the casing and theinner surface of said flanges, a shoulder on said wheel, an L-shapedvalve reciproeating in an extension of said casing and raised by saidshoulder, and a steam-port closed by said L-shaped valve and openingonto said valve in such a direction that the steam tends to open saidvalve, substantially as described.

2. In a rotary engine, the combination of an annular casing U-shaped incross-section, a wheel revolving in said casing having a shoulderrevolving against the circumferential portion thereof, and havingflanges eX# tending outward beyond the inner edge of said casing andoutside of said casing, a valve-casing on said annular casing, and avalve reciprocating in said casing, said casing having its wallsrecessed to receive the ends of said Valve, substantially as described.

3. In a rotary engine, the combination of an annular casing, U -vshapedin cross-section, a wheel revolving in said casing having a shoulderrevolving against the circumferential portion thereof, said shoulderhaving spring-plates secured at the ends of the sides thereof to packthe same, a valve-casing on the annular casing, said casing having asuitable recess for the reciprocation of the valve, said recess havingrounded edges to permit said spring-plate packing to travel past in areverse direction, and a valve reciprocating therein, substantially asdescribed.

4. In a rotary engine, the combination of an annular casing U-shaped incross-section, a wheel revolving in said casing having a shoulderrevolving against the circumferential portion thereof, a reciprocatingL-shaped valve raised by said shoulder, a steam-port closed by thehorizontal member of said valve in its reeiprocation, the verticalmember having a notch in its rear face, and a latch ar ranged to engagesaid notch in said valve to uphold the same and close the port,substantially as described.

5. In a rotary engine, the combination of two annular casings, U-shapedin cross-section, a wheel revolving in each casing on a common shaft andhaving a shoulder revolving against the circumferential portion of thecasing, a valve in each casing raised by the shoulder therein, and steamand exhaust ports in each casing, said ports, in the two casings, beingoppositely arranged with regard to the valves therein, whereby saidwheels are adapted to travel in opposite directions on said shaft whenimpelled by steam, substantially as described.

6. In a rotary engine, the combination of two annular casings, U-shapedin cross-section, a Wheel revolving in each casing on a common shaft,and having a shoulder revolving against the circumferential portionthereof, a reciprocating L-shaped valve in each casing, raised by theshoulder therein, steam and exhaust ports in each casing, a conduit fromthe exhaust-port from the first casing to the steam-port in the secondcasing, a valve automatically closing rearward movement of the steam insaid conduit, and a suitably-controlled steam-pipe leading direct tosaid second casing, substantially as described.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand in the presence of twosubscribing witnesses.

E. P. COUTURE.

Witnesses:

FRANCIS M. WRIGHT, CHAs. W. SMYTH.

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